How Heat’s Tyler Herro wants to be better this season: ‘He’s just so efficient now’

The Miami Heat went on an unexpected playoff run to the NBA Finals last season as the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 playoff seed without guard Tyler Herro after he broke his hand in the first game of the postseason.

But the Heat is still a better team when Herro is on the court, especially offensively, according to coach Erik Spoelstra and the statistics (Heat scored 113.9 points per 100 possessions last regular season with Herro on the court compared to 107.1 points per 100 possessions when he was off the court).

“He just makes our offense so much more dynamic,” Spoelstra said following the Heat’s 132-124 preseason win against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday night at Kaseya Center. “Tonight was a case in point, and you’re playing against a very good defense. It’s preseason, I get it. But our offense just looks a lot different when he’s on the court.”

Adebayo and Herro dominate, and other takeaways from Heat’s preseason win over Grizzlies

Herro’s complete offensive skill set was on display Sunday, as he finished the Heat’s third of five preseason games with a game-high 30 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the field, 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range and 4-of-5 shooting from the foul line.

Herro, 23, scored at all three levels on Sunday, shooting 4 of 5 at the rim, 1 of 4 on non-rim paint shots and 2 of 3 on non-paint two-pointers while also hitting four threes. He even generated five free throws for himself, a number that he made a goal to increase this season after he attempted 2.7 free throws per game last regular season.

“That’s the evolution of all the great players in this league who can score at all three levels,” Spoelstra continued, with the Heat now off until Wednesday’s preseason matchup against the Brooklyn Nets at Kaseya Center. “It’s when to do something, context, what’s the coverage, what’s the read, what’s the best thing for your team for that possession. And context of the previous possessions matter. I think Tyler studies the game and it takes time. Sometimes after a few years, things just really start to slow down and each year it becomes more so about that.”

While it was just one preseason game, Herro’s shot chart was encouraging and consistent with the adjustment he has worked to make to his shot selection in recent seasons. He attempted just three non-paint twos or long midrange shots on Sunday, as nine of his 19 shots came from inside the paint and seven came from behind the three-point line.

“The floater, that is a go-to shot for him. So that’s a little bit different,” Spoelstra said. “That’s a little bit more close to the restricted area and that keeps defenses honest. He has a great percentage on those. And there will be times that the context matters, where [long midrange shot] will be a good shot for him. A pull-up when he’s open from 16 to 18 feet. But he’s playing very efficient and assertive on the catch. A lot of those will be three balls, particularly when he’s playing with that starting unit. The second unit, he does a little bit of everything in that unit, more on the ball and he made some really good reads tonight.”

Where has Herro improved the most over the last year?

“Man, he’s just so efficient now,” Heat teammate Bam Adebayo said. “His movements, less dribbles, not trying to do much. He gets straight to his points, gets straight to his shots.”

Herro closed last regular season as the Heat’s third-leading scorer with 20.1 points per game on 43.9 percent shooting from the field and 37.8 percent shooting from three-point range. He wants to be a better and more efficient version of himself in his fifth NBA season.

“That’s my job,” Herro said. “They didn’t draft me to be the same player that I was when I got drafted. They drafted me to come here and improve, make my teammates better, be a good person around the community. That’s who I am, that’s what I do. And improving on the court is what I do every year, as well.”

It helps that there’s a little extra motivation for Herro after another offseason at the center of trade rumors, as he was linked to the Heat’s pursuit of Damian Lillard this summer. But Lillard ended up with the Milwaukee Bucks and Herro remained with the Heat.

“I’m always ambitious,” Herro said. “Motivation kind of drives me and it’s who I am. But that’s who I am, so that’s me every day. Just being myself. This year is obviously, I wouldn’t even call it revenge or a bounce back. It’s just a year to be myself and just have fun and enjoying what I love to do, which is play basketball. Tonight was a little bit of it.”

Herro then paused and made clear more is ahead, with the Heat opening the regular season on Oct. 25 against the Detroit Pistons at Kaseya Center.

”But, he said, “it’s still preseason.”

INJURY UPDATE

The Heat was without Jimmy Butler (dental procedure), Caleb Martin (left knee tendinosis), Nikola Jovic (right knee contusion), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (left groin strain), Josh Richardson (left foot discomfort), R.J. Hampton (right hip muscle strain) and Dru Smith (right hamstring strain) in Sunday’s preseason game against the Grizzlies.

Butler and Martin have missed each of the Heat’s first three preseason games. Jovic, Jaquez, Richardson and Hampton have missed the Heat’s last two preseason games. And Sunday marked the first game Smith has missed this preseason.

When asked before Sunday’s contest whether any of the Heat’s injured players could miss extended time, Spoelstra said: “We’re listing everybody as day-to-day. But we’ll get a better indicator over these next couple days.”

Butler is recovering from two separate dental surgeries he underwent in recent days, but is expected to be ready to return to game action by the end of the week and is on track to be ready for the start of the regular season.

The Heat has two preseason games left to play — Wednesday vs. the Nets at Kaseya Center and Friday vs. the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center.